The current method for creating hanging drop cell aggregates is to pipette individual cells onto a slide or a petri dish and invert the cells so that the force of gravity causes the cells to form into aggregates. Once the aggregates have formed, they typically then have to be pipetted again to transfer them to a storage destination, and then again to their ultimate destination for research, treatment, or some other purpose. Generally, this is a slow and inaccurate process, but, until recently, uses of cell aggregates have not required production in quantities large enough to merit improvements on this process. Recent discoveries, however, have led to the need for high-throughput solutions for the cell aggregate formation process.
Another current method involves forming the cell aggregates directly in the specially coated low-attachment well plates or in well plates pre-loaded with a special-purpose scaffolding for forming cell aggregates. A problem with these designs is that the cell aggregates form directly in well plates, and in order to be used, the cell aggregates still must be transferred manually to their next location (e.g. into tissue or into another cell culture chamber) in the time-intensive manner described above.
A further disadvantage is that these methods do not employ the hanging drop method to create cell aggregates. There may be circumstances in which the creating cell aggregates via the hanging drop method (i.e., under the force of gravity) is superior to the methods described above.